In a medical environment, many devices have tubing or other fluid conduits adapted for manual connection in order to provide a fluid connection between devices or between a device and a patient including enteral feeding pumps and enteral feeding lines. For example, enteral feeding or delivery of medicines to the gastrointestinal tract may be accomplished by connecting an enteral feeding connector to an oral syringe. Some patients, including particularly neo-natal patients, are best served by a high degree of accuracy in the volume of fluid delivered to the patient. Each of these devices includes one or more connectors that a user or practitioner may connect together.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional enteral feeding connector assembly including a male enteral feeding connector 1 and a female enteral feeding connector 3 configured to be connected to one another for use in connecting enteral fluid lines in healthcare applications. The female enteral feeding connector 3 receives a male connector portion 1A of the male enteral feeding connector 1 within an interior space 5. An exterior surface of the male connector portion 1A engages and seals with an interior surface of the female enteral feeding connector 3 to achieve a fluid-tight connection. The enteral feeding connectors 1, 3 may then deliver fluid in the fluid lines through a fluid passage 7 extending through the connectors. Fluid is typically delivered from the female connector 3 to the male connector 1. A dead space 9 is located adjacent an inlet of the male enteral feeding connector 1. The dead space 9 defines an area of the interior space 5 in the female enteral feeding connector 3 that is not occupied by the portion of the male enteral feeding connector 1 received therein. A problem with having this dead space is that fluid intended for delivery can pool within the dead space causing an under dose of fluid to be delivered to the patient. Conversely, the pooled fluid may not be accounted for in the fluid measurement resulting in an overdose of fluid to the patient. Although errors may be small, they can be important for certain patients, such as neo-natal infants.